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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanon murder inquiry team face death threats |
| 2005-10-25 |
| THE head of the UN team investigating Syrian involvement in the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, disclosed yesterday that his staff had received "credible" threats and said that the danger to them was increasing. Detlev Mehlis, the steely German prosecutor leading the UN inquiry, told the UN Security Council that he was concerned about the safety of his team after last week’s report implicating senior Syrian and Lebanese officials in the plot. "The level of risk, which was already high, will increase further, particularly after the issuance of the report," he said. "The commission has received a number of threats which were deemed, in the assessment of our security personnel, to be credible." Mr Mehlis later told a press conference that the threats came from "unknown groups" and not from any Syrian or Lebanese officials. "There were fliers that were being distributed in southern Lebanon threatening the commission and myself," he said. "There were other more credible threats from alleged groups." Extra security measures have already been taken around the fortified UN offices in central Beirut, with additional concrete barriers installed. Even so, Nejib Friji, the UN spokesman in Beirut, had to be pulled out of the country "for his own safety" and has been temporarily reassigned to another UN mission. The United States was poised last night to distribute a draft Security Council resolution demanding Syrian co- operation with the UN investigation, after Mr Mehlis complained of Syrian obstruction. Diplomats said that the draft would fall under the "enforcement provisions" of the UN Charter, effectively laying the groundwork for sanctions if Syria did not come clean. Washington has called for a foreign ministers’ meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Monday to vote through the draft. But it was unclear last night whether Russia and China would water down the text beforehand. President Bush said he hoped that Syria would co-operate with the UN inquiry. "I am hoping they will co-operate. [Military action] is the last — very last — option," he told al-Arabiya television. Mr Bush said that Syria had to meet a set of demands from the international community, including expelling Palestinian militant groups, preventing insurgents from crossing its borders into Iraq and ending Syrian interference in Lebanon. The UN is to receive a second report on Syria as early as today from another UN envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, that is expected to accuse Damascus of continued meddling in Lebanon. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz says that he will accuse Syria of continuing "to maintain its direct military control of Lebanon through its agents in the Lebanese presidential palace, the army and intelligence organisations" and of continuing to supply Hezbollah and Palestinian militants in Lebanon with weapons. Mr Mehlis, whose investigation has been extended until December 15, called on Syria to hold its own "open and transparent" investigation into Mr Hariri’s killing. |
| Posted by:Omineger Glavise9233 |
| #2 de-populate the bekaa valley With the added bonus of Saddam's WMD's getting discovered / unearthed, at long last. |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-10-25 20:03 |
| #1 perhaps a counter-proposal: Anything happens to these people and we level Damascus and de-populate the bekaa valley |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-10-25 19:22 |